A Night in a Historic New York Cemetery
An immersive, performative experience takes place each year at the Green-Wood cemetery, which dates back to the 19th-century.
Saturday night in New York City, and I am en route to the historic Green-Wood cemetery for an evening of libations and performances at Atlas Obscura’s Into the Veil event, now in its third year.
The towering, gothic archways of the historic Green-Wood cemetery stand like a portal between the living and dead. As crowds of New Yorkers make their way under the illuminated arches, a sense of surreality begins to set in. Yes, I am in fact spending Saturday night in a graveyard.
Green-Wood cemetery isn’t any ordinary graveyard though. Founded in 1838, the winding pathways of the cemetery cut through woods, rolling hills, ponds, and an endless expanse of mausoleums and gravestones dating back to the 19th century. It is difficult to imagine that each of the weathered tombstones represents a person who once lived, once loved, and once saw this very city in a different era.
Upon entering Green-Wood, a church washed in red light stands directly ahead — at once welcoming and ominous. Guests move like shadowy silhouettes through the cemetery as my eyes begin to adjust to my surroundings, the moonlight…
